Costumes & Hayride=So Much Fun!!

Thursday was the school-wide costume party at Parkway. Karlee was so excited to wear her costume that she has seen around the house for a while. She was even more excited to see Rolley Len dressed up too.

Sweet Little Red Riding Hood

Thursday evening was also the deemed night for trick or treat by the City of Auburn (got to love living in a college town!). Karlee was too little last year to know what was going on so this year was so much fun. Chip and I decided it would be fun to get a bunch of friends together and have a hayride around our neighborhood and trick or treat. Boy, were we right about fun! I think the kids enjoyed something different that just walking around door to door. We stopped on all of the streets in the front part of our neighborhood and hit every house with a light on. The kiddos racked up some pretty serious candy.





It only took Karlee two houses to figure out what was going on. She realized mommy and daddy were letting her get candy from people and she took off. She said "tick or teat" ( I wish I had my video camera for those sweet words) and held out her basket with a polite "tank you" at the end. One lady even took her picture at her door!



Thank you daddy for driving the tractor and putting on such a fun hayride. We hope to do this again next year because those that couldn't come missed a really fun time. Go ahead and mark your calendars!!


A blurry attempt at a group picture. Sorry Davis family. We took this picture just before you arrived.

I pick my battles!!

This precious child is definitely getting independent and becoming Miss Do It My Way Or I'll Pitch A Tantrum! When she woke up yesterday morning, I got her dressed and fed to head to Montgomery to do a little shopping at the Annual Holiday Market.
When I opened her closet to get her shoes, she ran to the door saying "shooooes!" When I didn't pull out the ones she wanted, she started pitching a Karlee fit. Tears instantly stopped when she had the shoes she wanted. I thought she just wanted to hold these shoes so I started to put on the shoes I wanted her to wear. The tears and fit started again and I realized she wanted to wear the shoes she picked out. Here they are:



I told myself that this just wasn't a battle I wanted to fight. Besides, we had the entire ride to Montgomery and I could change her shoes when we got there. To my surprise, Karlee let me change her shoes with no fuss. I think they were hurting her feet since they are two sizes too small and the pink one was on the wrong foot!! Another thing Karlee wouldn't let me fix that morning. She wanted the exact shoe she pointed at.

She played with the dogs while I was getting their water bowls filled. I think she was having as much fun making them squeak as the dogs were chasing the squeaking shoes!




We finally headed to Montgomery (in a big rain storm) and the day was great. Karlee saw Santa and I got some Christmas shopping done. It's so nice to look at cute clothes and know that I can make them now and not spend a fortune on them. Karlee is sporting my latest sewing class project. I'll be making matching pants this week!!

Lovin on Aubie!

Karlee had her first Parkway Preschool Spirit Day last Thursday. I told her Wednesday night that she was going to school 3 days that week and Aubie was coming to visit on the last day. She loves Aubie and has never been scared of him so she was extra excited. All Chip and I heard all week was "Aubie Aubie" and she had to hold the Aubie book any time we went somewhere in the car (this book stays in the car because it's an instant cry stopper!!).

Well, this is the face I saw when Karlee spotted Aubie.



She was bound and determined to go see him and kept creeping foward away from her class until she reached him. She wanted to give him 5 and Aubie noticed so he reached down from his touchdown pose and gave her 5. She just squealed!!



Finally, Karlee was right where she wanted to be the entire time.



Check out this hilarious class picture! Most of the kiddos where really scared and wanted nothing to do with Aubie.



Before we headed home, I managed to capture the sweetest picture of all. Rolley Len and Karlee are sure to be the bestest of friends!

BRRRRR! It's cold outside

We're all bundled up from head

to toe!!

Don't worry mom, the ears were fully covered. Karlee slid the hat up right before I took the picture!

First trip to the Fair

Chip's parents both celebrate birthdays this week. When asked what they wanted to do to celebrate: take Karlee to the fair. So, Sunday afternoon we all loaded up and headed to Montgomery to the Alabama National Fair. I was so excited the whole way there because I wanted to see Karlee's reaction to all the lights, sounds, and rides. The reaction was as expected: bright eyes, large smiles and loud laughs. We took a stroll through the petting zoo first and saw goats, large turtles, cows, and a camel. The goats were hungry and kept reaching for Karlee's hair bow!!




Chip threw some darts and hit all 12 balloons without missing a single one. Karlee got a Dora doll as the prize and that thing was stuck like glue to her all night (almost). Karlee did a little fishing and won a stick horse. She thought it was a bat though and kept swinging it like one. It had to be taken away and hid in the stroller.




We then walk up to the ticket booth to find out that Karlee had to be 36 inches tall to ride the rides. My lips were poked out as we walked away. What were we going to do now? It didn't take me long to see kids Karlee's size on some of the rides with adults. Chip marched back to the ticket booth while I scoped out more kids on rides. It just took us asking the ride operators if we could ride with Karlee. Some said no and pointed to the sign saying 36 inches and some said step right up. We were able to ride three rides with her: the carousel(but not on a moving animal), the train, and the whirly ducky. Karlee absolutely loved the whirly ducky. So much so, that we had to ride it three times each with a different person.







Before we headed out, the grandparents of course had to fill Karlee with some sugar. Grandaddy wanted ice cream and grandmamma wanted a funnel cake (I slipped off to get salt water taffy-my favorite fair food!). We bypassed the cotton candy and said that could wait til next year. It sure did look good though! This is the point where the Dora doll went missing. It was in the stroller while Karlee was eating ice cream. When we got to the car, it was gone. So, someone either took it or it fell out of the stroller. Karlee has asked for Dora a few times but I'm hoping I can put off buying her one until Christmas. Dora is on her wish list from Santa!!




We had a great time and I know Stanley and Linda enjoyed celebrating their birthdays with Karlee at the fair. Happy Birthday!!

Pumpkin Carving Time

Chip wanted to carve the pumpkin this morning so out to the front porch we went. Karlee was in a diaper so she could dive in the pumpkin with daddy but it was a little chilly outside to be half naked. The Parkway Preschool shirt was way too big but served its purpose for keeping her warm.


Karlee started out helping with the spoon really well. Then she decided that wasn't messy enough. Her entire arm reached to the bottom of the pumpkin and she was happier with her progress!

Karlee doubled checked to make sure the inside was all clean!

My job was to draw the face. This is the final product and the proud sculptors!

Jack O Lantern Lane

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch in Lafayette Saturday morning. It was extremely hot but well worth it. The kids had so much fun together. I took so many pictures and these are my favorite. Enjoy!!


Karlee and Rolley Len loved sitting next to each other. They read books and held hands the entire way there.

Karlee really loved the bounce house and slide. She was saying "bounce" as I took her out of the car. She spotted it first!!

Rolley Len and Karlee helping Mason walk around.

The sweet daddy's enjoying the hay ride with the kids.

Karlee found her pumpkin!

Eyeing Mason's little pumpkin!

Karlee shared her little pumpkin with Mason.

Karlee got some horse loving in.

Then she tried to escape on the tractor!!

We all took a ride on the train through the corn field.

And this was the quiet ride home!!

Grandparent's Breakfast

Today, Parkway Preschool had it's annual Grandparent's Breakfast. The day started off great with getting Karlee up and dressed with me by 8:00 (she's usually gone with Chip by 6:15 on the days I work so I have time to shower in peace!). We pulled in the parking lot at school and Karlee saw HIM. My dad (aka Granpa). She started kicking in excitement and waving and screaming "Granpa, Granpa". She usually goes to my mom like this in excitement but not today. She only wanted Granpa.

We walked in the classroom and Karlee did not want to leave her Granpa's arms, not even when Chip's parents walked in. Linda and Stanley both took her out of my dad's arms to give her a hug and Karlee immediately held her arms out for Granpa again.

I left before they started eating breakfast so I have no idea if she ever left his arms to play with the other kids. My mom is off work today so Karlee is going to her house after the breakfast instead of Chip's parents like she normally does on a Thursday. Karlee really loves both sets of grandparents but today she was a Granpa girl all the way. I know my dad just ate that up!!